KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained its record-breaking spree in the outgoing week, as the benchmark KSE 100 index scaled a new all-time high closing amid a positive economic outlook.

Arif Habib Ltd (AHL) said the market maintained its bullish trend driven by promising talks with the IMF on a new loan and the UAE’s commitment to investing $10bn in Pakistan’s promising economic sectors.

On the economic front, Pakistan received gross inflows of $171m in Roshan Digital Account (RDA) in April. Moreover, the government raised Rs96.88bn through the PIB auction. The cut-off yield for three-year bonds was reduced by 1bps to 16.64 per cent, for five-year PIBs by 3bps to 15.45pc and for 10-year bonds by 5bps to 14.29pc. The rupee depreciated by 10 paise to 278.3 against the greenback.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 75,983 points after gaining 641 points or 0.85pc week-on-week.

Foreigner selling was witnessed in the outgoing week, clocking in at $12.08 million compared to a net buy of $14.94mn last week. Major selling was witnessed in debt ($16.55m) and technology ($0.63m). On the local front, buying was reported by banks/DFIs ($10.44m), followed by insurance companies ($5.31m). The average trading volumes rose 0.7pc to 558m shares ), while the average value traded settled at $64.8m week-on-week.

The market is expected to remain bullish next week. “The initiation of the new programme with the IMF is poised to boost market sentiment significantly. Investors will closely monitor advancements concerning the Federal Budget 2024-25 and the realisation of investments from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are anticipated to further fuel market optimism,” observed AHL.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2024